Lucas Sparks - Abandoned Carousal

This project was based off a concept from the Last of Us DLC and is rendered in real-time in UDK engine. The entire scene is ~100k tri's and all aspects were done by me. All elements are modular and the grass/vines/leaves are cards created and baked out in Maya. Programs used: Zbrush, Maya, UDK, Mudbox, Knald, xNormal, Photoshop and Premiere.

Annoyingly this is pretty much exactly what I want to do, although I want mine to create a more sinister feeling than this as this gives of quite a warm atmosphere even though its meant to be abandoned. I imagine this is due to the lights which looks really good and I want to do the same however if this means that It gives a warm feeling I may re-think that idea. Apart from the broken fence and ivy growing up it, Its hard to tell that this is meant to be abandoned. Hopefully mine will get across that it is derelict but perhaps not totally abandoned, be more spooky.

Here we can see just how low poly his final version is, it is pretty impressive the amount of detail he has got in to something this low poly. I imagine mine will be a slightly larger carousal overall.

These are good but I am hoping for mine to be better to stronger form, perhaps more high poly all together. Also he only used one type of horse although he did alternate the colours, I will probably do the same but am hoping to have more than one to show the variation of carousal horses, some of them may also be damaged missing limbs, scratched and graffitied.

The environment enhances the effect of it being abandoned muchly, it looks much better as part of something than on its own.

Among the Sleep

Among The Sleep invites you into the mind and body of a two year old child. After being put to bed one evening, mysterious things start to happen. Being played in first person, the game let its players immerse themselves in a child's limitless imagination. I would like the level to play a lot like this, with the players perspective being skewed into what I want them to see and feel. I want them to feel the familiarity of the Carousal music, yet scared and confused by its random appearance. If possible I would like to create lighting that created huge shadows across the floor and up the surrounding trees if I have time.

Narcolepsy Issues

Recently I feel my Narcolepsy has been getting worse, hours seem to fly by and I accomplish so little in them because of it, it makes me depressed which I then think makes things worse. I used to be on medication before uni, but I came of it as i didn't feel they were doing much good. When I came to Uni I had a pretty flexible timetable so could control it by having scheduled naps but recently even with them I seem to find myself feeling that I have wasted the day even though I have dedicated the whole day to work (minus lunch and tea). I came of the medication also as in the cases of lectures they seemed to do little good but when on them my body would overheat when I drift of as if in some kind of internal battle, and I would wake at the end of the lecture all sweaty and with a headache.
Tomorrow I plan on going to the doctors to see if I can re set up my prescription, perhaps they will be more effective as my body has not had them for a long time. Im hoping they help this time even if its just a fraction I need all my time to get the grade I want.
I did try energy drinks but they are unhealthy and bad for you.
I also found out that Winston Churchill had Narcolepsy, so theres hope for me yet :P
I thought it relevant to mention all this as it has been effecting my work flow and speed, though I do try my best not to bring it up as I don't like people to think me using it as an excuse.

Circus Posters

Z-brush Re-cap with Mark

I had a z-brush session today with Mark to help me get to grips with it. If i'm honest I think I am now more scared of it than I was before, I know I just need to spend time to do tutorials get it all in my head. I haven't been able to do any at the weekend as Z-brush always over heats my Mac but I plan on doing some when I get back. 
However i'm worried that I wont learn it in time to get everything perfected for hand in. 
Mark gave me some names to look up for useful tutorials, from what i learnt form the session poly-groups are vital, so I think i'm going to try and perfect using them first and then maybe hard surfacing. 
(look up Danny Williams/ pointpusher, Raphael Grasseti, Zbrush summit)

What Is PBR? (3D Motive)

So for my Carousal Model I want it to be up to the latest industry standards so that If I put it in my portfolio it should still be fairly relevant for todays practise. Ive heard a lot recently about PBR, mainly from George however I didnt really know 100% what he was talking about well now I do. Well I wouldn't say 100%, but I researched into it found out what It is any why its becoming more widely used. It looks interesting and I hope I manage to learn how to use it well before this project is over. Here is some material from the sites I looked at such as 3D motive and marmoset tool bag 2.

Last Games Design Conference saw the launch of Unreal 4 and Marmoset Toolbox 2. Both changed materials to be closer to photorealistic, and raised the bar for realistic assists in the gaming industry.

PBR or Physically Based Rendering, also referred to as Physically Based Materials, allows artists to create realistic and natural looking game props. Control reflective indexes in materials to approximate real world surfaces, add micro detail and reflectivity with results that are harder to distinguish from the real world.  

For beginners, be sure to check out Joe Wilson’s Tutorial on Physically Based Rendering, And You Can Too!

(( I found this link really helpful at helping meu nderstand PBR more, especially the Inputs and Terminology section, it helped me get to grips with the language used when explaining PBR)

Remember that different programs handle PBR a little differently so depending on which program you choose you will have to set up maps a little differently. Be sure to check out Unreal’s Unreal 4 Physically Based Material documentation on how they handle PBR. 

For anyone who wants a closer look at how metals can be handled check out artist Georgian Avasilcute’s great breakdown of metal in his PBR Texturing Techniques over at Quixel. For the heavy reader check out Physically Based Rendering: From Theory to Implementation by Matt Pharr and Greg Humphreys.

Fast becoming a standard in the games industry due to increased computing power and the universal need for art content standardisation, physically based rendering aims to redefine how we create and render art.

Physically based rendering (PBR) refers to the concept of using realistic shading/lighting models along with measured surface values to accurately represent real-world materials.

PBR is more of a concept than a strict set of rules, and as such, the exact implementations of PBR systems tend to vary. However, as every PBR system is based on the same principal idea (render stuff as accurately as possible) many concepts will transfer easily from project to project or engine to engine. Toolbag 2 supports most of the common inputs that you would expect to find in a PBR system.

Beyond rendering quality, consistency is the biggest reason to use measured values. Having consistent base materials takes the guess work out of material creation for individual artists. It also makes it easier from an art direction perspective to ensure that content created by a team of artists will look great in every lighting condition.

Here are some other sites I had a look at, most were very complicated to follow but I followed the last one pretty well (everything is shiny)

1. Lagarde, Feeding a physically based shading model

2. Karis, Real Shading in Unreal Engine 4

3. Burley, Physically-Based Shading at Disney

4. Smits, Reflection Model Design for WALL-E and Up

5. Hable, Everything is Shiny

Ghost Horse

"Ghost" carousel horse carved by D. Muller formerly rode the carousel at Cedar Point, Ohio. "Ghost" is reportedly the only known haunted carousel horse. Though he has been put in the Carousel Museum in Sandusky, a replica still rides the carousel. In years past, "Ghost" was said to be ridden after hours by a lady in black. She would get on the horse and the carousel would mysteriously start to go round on it sown. Spooky

Starting to Model Carousal Horse's

Okay this is the beginning of my modelling my carousal horse, felt like its gone pretty well considering its a natural shape which are harder to do within Maya. I started with the body and then went on to the placement of the feet/ hoofs. I felt that all was going well however I went back and re did the back side of the horse, as you can see below.

 I feel in my second attempt the rear has a much more natural smooth shape, and that the hoofs and legs connect well despite and have good topology. Below is the final blackout of my carousal horse, I would like to have been able to achieve the same level of detail as i did in the hoofs in the rest of the horse and the details that would be on it. I have become very comfortable with modelling in Maya, however the natural shapes and symmetry of the decorations on carousal horses would be better of being done in Z-brush. Which I inform you is my nemesis, I find it terribly hard to use and i just frustrates me in general. Ive imported the model below into z-brush, past this I am lost I had trouble with the symmetry tool and lots of other things straight away. I am waiting for a tutorial with Mark in which I can re-cap on the workings of this brilliant yet evil program.

Scary Carousal Artwork

Blist's Hill Victorian Town

Over the Easter Holiday I tried really hard to find a near by Carousal, with horses on so I could take pictures for Primary Research. Unfortunately howeverI had no luck in finding one, I visited the Victorian Town of Blist's Hill knowing that they had a little carnival area, and vaguely remembering there being a carousal. When I got there I found that they only had the carousal for six weeks in the summer, I was very upset to find that out but fortunately got in for free due to knowing someone who worked there otherwise would of been £20 to find out there wasn't one.

However I did find this Swingy Thing, for a lack of knowing the correct name which except lacking the horses has some similar components to a Carousal. As well as the carnival style decoration. I took pictures to record the style as it may be useful for inspiration etc.

Above are components of the swingy thing I found particularly interesting/ curious. I really like the font type used in "Harris & Scrivens' it reminded me of classic carnival designs. On each corner of the "swingy thing" was a portrait of a member of the royal family, with these particular ones being long dead I found it strange for them to be there above looking out at you. The way the eyes of paintings seem to follow you has always worried me, although it is of course just an illusion.

Above are more designs that represent carnival/ circus themes and style, there was not much else left to see as the carnival area was only small. Again the fonts and patterns are what tell you its a carnival, the mouths on the game are a bit freaky to me. I really like the 'Change' sign and would be cool to incorporate it into the environment if I have time.

On my way out of Blist's Hill I came across these victorian advertisements and took pictures as I thought there was some beauty, something interesting about them, or maybe that they would be useful to have as textures for a project in the future. I think its the style that the old advertisements have as well as how the paint/ metal have reacted to time.